WebProNews

Because there are two formats for web feeds, RSS and Atom, there is a battle to see which becomes the industry standard. On the whole, RSS seems to be the preferred format, and therefore the perceived industry standard. However, in April of 2004, Google dropped RSS support in favor of Atom.

Google went as far as to issue a cease and desist order to a programmer who was accessing Google News through an RSS feed.

However, according to an article that appeared in News.com, Google may be ready to rethink this decision. A quote from the article in question reveals Google's thinking on this matter:

"I did ask (a Google product manager) to develop a summary...about RSS feeds, including the ways they are produced and consumed, which platforms/devices they run on, and information on the various formats (RSS 1.0, 2.0, Atom)," Jonathan Rosenberg, Google's vice president of product management, wrote on May 22.

Google's support of both formats would ease the outcry concerning the search engine perceived siding with the Atom format. RSS and Atom developers have been at each others throats ever since critics of the RSS format broke away and developed the Atom format in order to oppose RSS.

Chris Richardson is a search engine writer and editor for WebProNews. Visit WebProNews for the latest search news.